Joe Gibbs' 3 Super Bowls- a great achievment or an asterisk?

[CSKreager]

We hear all the time about Joe Gibbs winning 3 Super Bowls with 3 different QB's.

I think he gets a bit too much credit for those titles considering 2 of them were in asterisk strike seasons and 1 of them was basically a fluke year

[Brian wolf]

Winning any SB is a big achievement especially with different QBs but Gibbs had offensive lines that made the difference. They ran just enough to draw a defense in, then went deep. Their defenses could be thrown on, but with underrated Dave Butz plugging the run, they could unleash a pass rush.

The Redskins problem was complacency. They never could be better a following season except for 1983 but the Raiders pass rush could whip any offensive line, as evidenced in the SB.

[Citizen]

I'm eager to hear how a 14-2 team that routed its three playoff opponents by an average score of 34-14 -- and that had playoff wins the season before and the season after -- can be considered a fluke.

[Halas Hall]

I write this as a huge New York Giants fan during that era. Those were terrific Washington teams, and I feel Joe Gibbs is a vastly underrated coach. Their 1989 team that just missed the playoffs was a very good team.

[SeahawkFever]

We hear all the time about Joe Gibbs winning 3 Super Bowls with 3 different QB's.

I think he gets a bit too much credit for those titles considering 2 of them were in asterisk strike seasons and 1 of them was basically a fluke year

There were also different running backs for the big game too (John Riggins, Timmy Smith, and Earnest Byner).

And there’s also the 1986 team that made the NFC Championship Game with Jay Schroeder and George Rogers.

If you want to say that the championships that Gibbs won aren’t the most impressive collection of titles because of the circumstances I could see that, but I would also say that he proved he could succeed in his system with some different pieces regardless.

[SeahawkFever]

I'm eager to hear how a 14-2 team that routed its three playoff opponents by an average score of 34-14 -- and that had playoff wins the season before and the season after -- can be considered a fluke.

Here’s the thing about the 1991 Redskins:

Some people think highly of them and others don’t.

Those who are critical of that team look at the roster and see a lack of Hall of Fame talent (right now, Art Monk, Darrell Green, and Russ Grimm are the only Hall of Fame players; the latter being a backup guard at the end of his career), and while there could be another player or two that gets in someday (Joe Jacoby should be in, and if you think the best return specialists belong, then Brian Mitchell could have a case too, and there’s also the linebacker Wilber Marshall who I recall at least one person in this forum saying he should be a Hall of Famer when I nominated him for Hall of Very Good), either way it’s less Hall of Fame talent than several great teams had at their disposal.

There’s also the critique of the 91 Skins being in the right place at the right time.

Looking at the other top teams of the era in the NFC, the 49ers were just starting Steve Young for the first time, (notably I see six games started by Steve Bono as well). They were 10-6, as well as one if the best teams statistically that missed the playoffs since wild cards were a thing. But either way, they were better the year before and after.

The Giants were defending champs of course, but they had just replaced Bill Parcells with Ray Handley (I’ve seen him referred to as one of the worst coaches that franchise has ever had), and they also lost Bill Belichick. Even if they both stayed though, wasn’t that team getting a bit older?

And the Cowboys were pretty good in 91, and they handed the Redskins their only regular season loss before they clinched I believe, but their 91 draft class would have been rookies and they hadn’t drafted the 92 draft class yet (that included Darren Woodson and Kevin Smith who were in their secondary for the first two Super Bowls). Dallas was good, but a year or two away from being their best.

And lastly those who are critical of the 91 Skins would cite the fact that the team while a playoff team in 1990 and 1992, lost to the Niners in the divisional round both years, and in particular in 92 went only 9-7 (I recall my metrics saying they were pretty solid for a 9-7, but a huge drop off either way), and they probably would view them as worse than teams that would have held up better in the years after their championships potentially.

On the flip side though, those who think highly of the 91 Redskins cite how well everyone performed that year as a collective.

Indeed you will find that the Redskins in 1991 best differentials of points, yards, turnovers, first downs, passer rating, and sacks among other stats. They had a 14-2 record with both losses by a combined five points. Also, while they may lack players who had a Hall of Fame career, they did have nine players who were voted a first or second team all pro at their respective positions by the Associated Press.

The Football Outsiders DVOA stat found the offense, defense and special teams units to each be top 50 since 1950 among their respective sides of the ball, and Aaron Schatz when running his statistic in 2024 found the 91 Skins to be the best Super Bowl champion of all time.

As for my main stat, the 91 Skins regular season ranked sixth all time since 1941 in Score% differential, and the highest of any Super Bowl champion that had to maintain their regular season stats over a 16 game season or longer.

Also, while their postseason opponents were definitely on the less challenging side of things (Atlanta and Detroit in 1991 show up as fairly average teams statistically, but with better records than their stats, and the Bills team they faced was arguably the weakest of the four Super Bowl Bills teams), they also dominated said opponents.

In their playoff games, the 1991 Skins accumulated a point differential of +61 and their defense produced 14 sacks and 14 turnovers while their offense turned the ball over only twice and was not sacked at all.

I’d have to double check, but the 91 Skins’ sack differential of +53 counting the playoffs is the best sack differential counting the playoffs in NFL history.

All told, they produced 50 sacks in the regular season in addition to the 14 playoff sacks, and took only nine sacks in the entire regular season; three of those in week 17 vs Philly, and two of them on the backup quarterback Jeff Rutledge.

Me personally, I would say the 91 Skins were an excellent team. They were handed favorable circumstances, and didn’t hold up as well as other teams, but credit them for parlaying those circumstances into one of the handful of greatest seasons ever played.

[CSKreager]

I'm eager to hear how a 14-2 team that routed its three playoff opponents by an average score of 34-14 -- and that had playoff wins the season before and the season after -- can be considered a fluke.

Two words- Mark Rypien. The epitome of 15 minutes of fame. Guy got to play an easy schedule and suddenly everyone thought he was good

[CSKreager]

Their postseason opponents were definitely on the less challenging side of things (Atlanta and Detroit in 1991 show up as fairly average teams statistically, but with better records than their stats, and the Bills team they faced was arguably the weakest of the four Super Bowl Bills teams), they also dominated said opponents.

92 was the shakiest of BUF's SB teams. 91 scored the most points, 93 was a better defense, 90 their best overall team

[ChrisBabcock]

Their postseason opponents were definitely on the less challenging side of things (Atlanta and Detroit in 1991 show up as fairly average teams statistically, but with better records than their stats, and the Bills team they faced was arguably the weakest of the four Super Bowl Bills teams), they also dominated said opponents.

92 was the shakiest of BUF's SB teams. 91 scored the most points, 93 was a better defense, 90 their best overall team

Although I truly thought they would beat Dallas since they steamrolled through the last 2.5 playoff games before the Super Bowl. After going down 35-3 to the Oilers, they outscored opponents 91-16 the rest of the way.